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MULTIMEDIA NIGHT

6:30 p.m. I am at the Hotel, my eyes are burning for staying up last night, the event begins at 8 o´clock tonight, and the sound team is still installing wires and microphones, they say that the wire that goes from control panel to laptop´s sound device is missing and that a lapel microphone is broken. “Don´t worry man, one of our guys is bringing that stuff, he will be here before the shows begins” says one of the boys, it happens all the time, nothing is completely ready before a conference or a business award presentation. The salsa music group is testing their instruments, sax, drums, guitars, looking for the correct “DO”, the PowerPoint file that goes after the flash presentation we made, is not ready yet because the latest sales data has not been sent from south district of the country.

7:30 p.m. Guests are already getting off the bus and waiters are finally fixing the last flower bouquets in the reception room, digital printed banners were just installed five minutes ago and they have that special lacquer smell spreading it all over the hotel hall. I am receiving an e-mail with a picture of some salesman from China, I have to open it in Photoshop, take it to the Honor Roll chapter in the intro.fla, the girl that is going to be master of ceremony is finishing her hair at the hairstyling salon and she has not read the script yet, sponsor gifts are arriving from the airport.

7:45 p.m. Guests are waiting to get in at the reception room, The Company director has arrived and makes a Little change in the script, but it makes that everything changes, he wants to say a few words after the national anthem, now we make a sound test, wires and lapel microphone are here, my heart keeps beating fast, I have just finished the china guy image, click on Publish…

8:12 p.m. I have just opened the PowerPoint file that I needed, Alt+tab to change to black screen with a flying logo, people begins to sit down pointing to the laser lights, screens and decoration, all of them seem happy to be there, conference speakers begin to get ready their words and ties, I hide myself behind audio and video controls, Freddy Mercury begins to sing “we are the champions” making a fade out 30 seconds later, Master of ceremonies’ finger touch the sound on the microphone making a short introduction of lecturers, anthem plays, then the company director gives the order to begin with video. I begin to sweat, information in screen is my responsibility, I have to know contents, spaces, when to click, and when to stop, I have to know these topics as good as the lecturers, they won´t have to say “next”, at the same time I have to be sure that nothing is going to be wrong, I have to watch the sound guy to make him choosing the rights moves, fades and changes, I have to control video and testimonies and take care of the music playing, chill out or new age, always the right genre, time does not run, It is just a special kind of stress, because guests must not feel anything but the message. Finally “thank you” appears on the screen, applause, Orchestra begins to play, Video Beams and plasma screens shut down, heartbeats get normal, PowerPoint files are erased from my desktop, I take my bag, get my car keys, say good bye to sound and video team and I try to get out of the room.

9:30 p.m. People begin to dance, but Human resources manager reaches me, the guy who hired me, he asks me a question, “I want to learn that software you use, can you teach me some classes? , I am sure that I will be able to make it like you do!”. Every time that someone ask me for that, I deeply think on my efforts, my experience, my time, I think about everything that has to be learned, I wonder about new resources and better ways of making multimedia.

10:30 p.m. Now, driving back home, I feel happy, I recognize a good work because people always believe that everything went magically “perfect”.